Authored By Alina Hunter-Grah

Strong growth in the Chattanooga airport's district has prompted regional planners to move ahead of schedule and create a new city plan for that area in an effort to stay ahead of development. City Council members also said improvements are needed there because it's the first area many travelers see when they arrive. "It's terrible; the stuff around it is terrible," District 6 Councilwoman Carol Berz said. "We've got a lot of dedicated developers that have done a good job, but we've got international traffic. There's no reason for it to look the way it does now." Earlier this year, the Chattanooga Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency launched a reboot of the existing city plan, which helps guide growth within the city, in order to make sure development was happening in a "smart" way. To tackle this project, planners divided the city up into areas that would be addressed one at a time. The airport district is part of area six. The planning agency's Director John Bridger said leaders decided to move forward with the airport district instead of waiting for the area six plan to commence because of the high-growth the district is seeing. "Areas are moving faster than we can get to them," he said. "We know [this area] has been growing by leaps and bounds and we'd hate to be behind the curve and reacting to [the growth] instead of getting in front of it." Moving forward, the agency wants to highlight the area's potential as an economic hub because of the district's direct access to multiple modes of transportation. The planners over this region, led by Senior Planner Sarah Cook, also intend to try to facilitate some community connection between the businesses and the residents in the area. "There is a random collection of different pieces that don't necessarily fit together into a whole," Bridger said. City leaders like Berz and District 5 Councilman Russell Gilbert have both pushed for projects in this area because of impressions it leaves on travelers. Berz said she is looking forward to the new plan because it will help turn the "gateway to the city" into something that will pull in even more business. "I think it's going to cause a great deal of positive economic change and give the airport a change it has really needed," she said. The agency is looking to host its first community meeting over the subject in October or November. The planning process from the area will take about five to six months in total. Those interested in being involved with the process may check the agency's website for updates or may contact the airport district Project Coordinator Sarah Cook at scook@chattanooga.gov. Alina Hunter-Grah is a contributing writer. She is a graduate of The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she received a bachelor’s degree in communication with a minor in political science. Alina has over three years of journalism experience including time spent with CNN and 2nd & Church, a magazine based in Nashville, Tennessee. You can reach Alina at ahuntergrah@gmail.com or on Twitter @alinahuntergrah.